Dangerous animal proposal passes its first reading

PEA RIDGE — An amendment to the city’s animal control ordinance regarding dangerous animals unanimously passed its first reading during the Feb. 22 City Council meeting.

The eight-page amendment also covers keeping livestock and poultry in the city.

Council members said they will set a committee meeting to review the document and possibly make additional changes before considering it for final approval.

The amendment was written by council member Ginger Larson and Police Chief Lynn Hahn in response to an incident where a resident’s pet was killed by their neighbor’s dogs, and they were in fear of their small children being harmed, Larson said.

The neighbor’s dogs continued to dig under the fence and come into the resident’s backyard and even used the resident’s doggy door to enter their home at one point, she said.

The city’s current ordinance includes requirements for keeping dangerous animals, but doesn’t give law enforcement the authority to impound the animals if the requirements aren’t met, Hahn said. In this situation, the owner didn’t have the means to build the type of enclosure required and is keeping the dogs tethered in the backyard, he said.

The ordinance defines nuisance animals, potentially dangerous animals, dangerous animals and vicious animals. It also gives detailed information about how each type of animal, except vicious animals, must be kept and gives animal control representatives the right to impound the animal at the owner’s expense if the owner fails to comply with the requirements. It also allows procedures for appeals.

Vicious animals are defined as those who cause death or serious injury to a person, bite or attack a person more than twice a year, kill or seriously injure another domestic animal more than twice in a year or are trained or kept for dog fighting. They won’t be allowed in the city under any circumstances, the amendment states.

Instead, they will be impounded immediately and euthanized, it states.

In addition, the amendment makes it illegal to keep cows, horses, sheep, goat, livestock or poultry in the city unless they’re on land zoned for agriculture and meet a list of conditions that include keeping the animals in clean and sanitary conditions that don’t cause odors or noises that disturb the public. Residents will be allowed to keep up to six laying hens in residential neighborhoods, but no roosters.

Aldermen Merrill White and Cody Keene raised concerns about the ordinance and requested it be postponed for further discussion.

White said he is an animal owner with cattle, horses and dogs and keeps them under control. The ordinance is so detailed that it makes it sound scary to move into Pea Ridge, he said.

“I can appreciate all the effort that you guys put into it, but I really think there is a lot of things in there that need a little more discussion before I would be feeling good about approving anything,” he said.

Keene said he is concerned the ordinance will create more burden on law enforcement because it will give people more incidents to call in and complain about.

The main goal of the amendment is to be able to at least secure a dangerous animal if something should happen again, Hahn said. The ordinance is really about protecting residents moving forward, Larson said.

“It does not mean the police chief or any of his officers are going to do this 100 times a year. You know he doesn’t have very many calls, but when he had a call, he could not address it,” she said. “The ordinance did not allow for him to protect that family and that was not acceptable.”